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Comments and opinions expressed on THE KNIGHT SHIFT are those of Christopher Knight and not necessarily those of subjects discussed in this blog, of advertisers appearing on it or of any reasonable human being. Any correspondence/irate letters/lawsuit threats/Nigerian e-mail scams can be sent to theknightshift@gmail.com.

Celebrating
that one unaccountable man has redefined more than six thousand years
of tradition from across the width and breadth of human society with one
stroke of a single pen.

Seems more than a little ridiculous to me. To say nothing of arrogant and presumptuous in the extreme.

I've seen a lot of hate and viciousness since yesterday afternoon. Most of it seems to be coming from those who were most clamoring for "equality of love". I can't understand that. Or maybe I can and I don't care to articulate why... because what would be the point?

It's
not same-gender marriage. Same-gender marriage is a contradiction. It's an
oxymoron. It is something so illogical that it cannot exist. There will be consequences. Legal and
otherwise. Especially legal. Ramifications for both "sides" of this debate.

Personally, I'm not worried at all about yesterday. Marriage is something beyond human establishment. It's untouchable. Those people - and I'm referring to both parties involved in this - can scream that it's a mountain all they want. Still
doesn't change the fact that it's a pebble.

Bear
in mind that at the time I was against Amendment One. For various
reasons I am still against it. There are some things which are defined
by something higher than man. Whether that is God or immutable law,
there are concepts which can neither be
defined or redefined by legislation or activist judiciaries. I
couldn't support Amendment One because I knew something of the spirit of
the men who were most pushing for it, and theirs was NOT borne out of
respect for that higher concept of marriage.

And ironically, neither is
what happened yesterday. But where does this end? Will polygamy be
next? Will corpses be given legal rights so that necrophilia is
legitimized?

How far does this now go?

I'm looking at the LONG-term
ramifications. And there will be consequences of this trend.

Some have asked by what right am I to dictate how two people are to love each other? Well , I haven't conspired or ever attempted to tell anyone about what they
express to another person. I do have to sincerely wonder though about
defining and re-defining something that is derived from law higher than
man's. Let's be honest: is what
happened yesterday about marriage, or is it about coercing those who do
not agree with it into endorsing something that they do not believe in? There are some businesses which do not cater to same-sex marriages. Some bakeries have refused to make wedding cakes for same-sex couples. They have been "penalized" with fines and made to sit through "sensitivity" classes. Are they to be forced to do so against their beliefs? It is already happening.

If
two people want to express their love for each other, fine. Let them
do it. Knock themselves out. But that doesn't mean that I or anyone
else should be made to give it an official stamp of endorsement. I
didn't think that Amendment One needed to do that for traditional
marriage and I don't think that one judge's decision "needed" to do that
for "gay" marriage either.

I
cannot reiterate nearly enough that marriage is something man can't define. Our attempts to do that will only meet with disaster. Perhaps not
today, but eventually.

For
what it's worth: I think a case can be made that Amendment One, and
it's biggest proponents, paved the way for what happened yesterday. It
really was one of the worst-worded, worst-inspired amendments that I've
ever seen (and I mean from a strictly legal perspective, not on whether one agreed with it or not). The ones who were demanding it cared more for strutting their own egos than they were about anything else. One cannot set out to do something with an impure motive. Doing so will in time destroy that work. And that is what happened here. It became less about defending marriage and more about looking like players at the big table of politics.There are many who would be wise to learn from this.